All Articles on Health

• Biopsy referral after PSA screening stays consistent

  The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recently concluded that evidence does not support recommending PSA screening for men under 75 years old at all, because the risks outweigh the benefits.
• Physicians and the ethical dilemma of federal cuts to health care

  In less than three weeks, we’ll know whether Congress’ 12-member bipartisan “Super Committee” has succeeded. If it can’t find $1.2 trillion in federal deficit reductions over the next decade, we face reductions of the same magnitude as across-the-board cuts.
• Obesity and depression independently increase health costs

  Obesity and depression both dramatically increase health care costs, but they mainly act separately, according to a study published in the November 2011 Journal of General Internal Medicine by Group Health Research Institute scientists.
• If less is more, which health care should be cut?

  In a national survey of primary care physicians that the Archives of Internal Medicine published last month, nearly half agreed: Their own patients are getting too much care.
• Many Alzheimer’s patients get drugs with opposing effects

  Many people taking common Alzheimer’s disease medications—cholinesterase inhibitors—are given medications with anticholinergic properties, which oppose their effects. Group Health Research Institute scientists investigated how often that happens and reported on the consequences in an “Early View” study e-published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
• Yoga eases back pain in largest U.S. yoga study to date

  Yoga classes were linked to better back-related function and diminished symptoms from chronic low back pain in the largest U.S. randomized controlled trial of yoga to date.
• Opioids linked to higher risk of pneumonia in older adults

  Opioids—a class of medicines commonly given for pain—were associated with a higher risk of pneumonia in a study of 3,061 adults, aged 65 to 94, e-published in advance of publication in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. The study from researchers at Group Health Research Institute and the University of Washington (UW) also found that benzodiazepines, which are drugs generally given for insomnia and anxiety, did not affect pneumonia risk.